Chekov's Gun
by Winged'Pollution
Summary: Honest, straightforward, chess-loving college student Kawaguchi Shika is a computer hacker with a fake name and enough skill to do just about anything with a keyboard. When her curiosity gets the best of her, she is brought onto the Kira case as a tech expert, and into a world of strange murders and a detective called L. [Eventual L/OC]
1. Prologue

Chess was really just one breed of a universal game. It could be applied to nearly every social or political aspect of the world. Conversely, everything in the world could ultimately be summed into a game of chess. Each person could be assigned a role as a chess piece. Humans created an immortal game; even if the name died out, it would only be carried on by something else. Chess, at its core, could never really die. Or at least, that's what every self-respecting chess fanatic tells themselves.

As it happened, a knight was sitting in a public park, playing a game by rotating the board 180 degrees after every move. Pairs of old men took up all the other tables. They played and chuckled, stroking beards and scratching balding heads. The woman at the third-to-last table turned the board around again to play the black. She'd already lost both knights on that side, one bishop, and four pawns. She chewed on her lip, hand hovering over her remaining bishop, before carefully moving it into place.

"Uh, that's a bad move." A voice muttered, a finger suddenly jabbing right over the board.

"Hey!" The woman jerked back, startled by the man's sudden appearance. "What?"

He stared. "No, that's not a good move at all. See, the white queen will just take it and you'll be down your last bishop." He picked up the black piece and promptly moved it back. He castled the king instead. "There."

"Uh…" The first player leaned away, looking him up and down. How long had he been there? "Sorry, who are you?"

The man looked over the board again; he didn't appear to have heard her. After a few seconds without reply, the woman started getting antsy, but eventually: "Hideki Ryuga. Your play style's really sloppy, by the way."

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Like the pop star? You don't look much like him."

"Yeah, we have the same name, weird right." He said, not sounding like he found it very weird at all. Everything he said came out monotone, spoken quickly. "Would you…mind if I played you?"

"Um, no, go ahead. I'm Shika."

Hideki sat across from her, crouched on the seat, hands on knees and butt off the seat a few inches. He waited as she set the pieces. "Shika, huh."

"Yep. You first." She spun the board around.

"All right." He moved the pawn to E4. Shika responded by moving her knight to F6. Hideki chewed on his thumbnail, looked around listlessly as he made his next move. He seemed bored already.

"You know your way around a chess board." Shika appraised after a minute or two. "You're good."

"Thank you." He mumbled, castling.

A few moves went on in silence. It was clear Shika was trying to figure out his play style, without much outward effort on the other player's part. Hideki made his moves almost instantly, with hardly any consideration. However, over the course of the game, he seemed to become less and less distracted by his surroundings and more and more focused on the game. Shika sized him up as they played, brows together and mouth pursed to the side. _A Bishop for sure, _she was thinking. _If not, then a Queen. I think he's smarter than he looks._

"Check." Hideki said it blandly, interrupting her train of thought.

"What?" Shika looked over the board. "Oh. Right."

A cell phone rang before she could move. "Excuse me." Hideki picked it up and held it to his ear in a peculiar fashion, by the fingertips. "Yeah. Nooo…Yes. Yes. No no, just wait. Thank you. Okay." He hung up. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Shika said. She pondered the board before moving. "Something the matter?"

"Mm, I don't know yet." He said. "You know I think you are a bit too good for just a casual player…"

"Huh? Oh," She smiled modestly. "I used to be the regional champion but I quit. I'm trying to get back into the game but I'm rusty."

"I understand."

"You know, even now when I have problems I think about them like a chess game. Things are easier to work out when you think a few steps ahead. You can _usually _predict behavior pretty accurately if you have a decent handle on human psychology and a few bits of info. That's how I think, anyway."

"Mmm." Hideki hummed. It was hard to tell, but it seemed as though he had actually heard her and was giving it some thought. But, then: "Mate."

Shika blinked a few times at the board she had been staring at and realizing that, yes, she had quite definitely lost. She laughed and stretched. "I guess I really am rusty. Thanks. That was a good game. We should play again some time, 'Hideki'." Her fingers crooked air quotes around his name.

After the loss, he pondered her reaction. "Possibly. If I have the time, although I can't really guarantee anything at this point." He clambered out of his chair.

"Well, I come here most afternoons if you ever want a rematch."

"I'm pretty sure _you're_ the one who wants a rematch. Buuut I do like chess. I'll think about it." Hideki started walking off.

The bishop gave the knight in the park little thought beyond their match. He walked back to the hotel in which he stayed, thoughts on other things, like the Kira case. But he did think about what the chess player had said, about looking a few steps ahead. It was a familiar phrase to him, but after turning it over, it gave him an idea. Digging in his pocket, he took out one of his cells and dialed a number.

"Watari? Yes, I need to know if there are any convicted criminals on death row that would be willing to do something for me. Thank you. While you're on it, get the local news station on the line. I have an idea."

-o-

_A/N: Remember to tell me what you think; this is only a prologue after all. I purposely didn't describe what either of them really looked like, but that'll come in later. Thanks for reading the test run!_


	2. saltatio fidei

"_Confusion now hath made his masterpiece." –William Shakespeare, _Macbeth

-o-

Shika's home was a small apartment on Tōō University's campus. It was plain, because she didn't have much money. The occupant matched her home; not extravagant, with an open face that wasn't beautiful but didn't leave the territory of 'attractive'. Shika smiled easily and was once described as a "straight-edge", to her amusement. She had dimples that showed up often and bright, smart black eyes.

Her castle was still there, as well as her kitchen table, one chair, a small low-def TV that sat on the floor, and a sofa she had purchased on sale from a friend of a friend. Any extra cash she got was immediately invested in computer software and high-speed internet. Incidentally, that was the most noticeable part of her home. The desktop sat on a desk, surrounded by a nest of towers, fans, and the porcupine quills of flashdrives containing extra memory. The real secret was inside, though. Every spyware program installed on it was either hand-made or rented out from other servers. They were the best of the best, and it was all protected by purchased firewalls and other handcrafted, considerably pricklier defenses.

When Shika arrived that evening after an afternoon off from classes playing chess with herself and strangers, everything was still just as she had left it.

The first thing she did was turn on the TV; she liked the noise in the background. Flicking on the news to see if "Kira" was still allegedly killing, she went to the kitchen. Her phone rang, and when she saw the number she rolled her eyes.

"Hello, Chihiro." She greeted reluctantly.

"Heeyy, don't sound so happy to see me!" The voice on the other end pouted. "What are you doing right now?"

"Um…" Shika looked through her scarce pantries, grimacing. "What's the correct answer to that?"

"It was a trick question, silly! I don't care what you're doing because we're going out tonight, you and I."

"Please no."

"I'm gonna get you drunk for once! Maybe you'll meet some nerdy guy and hit it off." Chihiro laughed like she made a joke.

"I don't want to."

"Come onnnnn! You don't do anything but sit around on your supercomputer thing! Loosen up!"

Shika held the phone between her shoulder and ear, squinting into a cereal box for survivors. "Listen, I'll have time to relax after the semester is over. For now I want to focus on…on…."

She trailed off, staring at the TV. An emergency broadcast had interrupted her train of thought. A man was standing at a podium at what looked like the UN. A nameplate in front of him read "Lind L. Tailor".

"Helloooo?" Chihiro called. "You there? Hey!"

"Are you seeing this?"

"Seeing _what_?"

"Turn on the TV. Looks like someone's trying to stop Kira."

"Who?"

"Just some internet myth I guess. People think he's causing all these criminals to have heart attacks somehow. Looks like the government's taking it seriously."

There was some scuffling about on the other end. In the meantime, Shika looked down at her tiny television. "Criminals around the world are being murdered by a serial killer." Tailor was saying. "I consider this crime to be the most atrocious act in history. I will make sure that the person or persons responsible are brought to justice. Kira, I will hunt you down, I will find you."

"Wow. This guy seems pretty serious that Kira is real." Chihiro's sudden voice made Shika jump.

"Yeah. Maybe it's not much of a myth after all." Shika said, keeping her eyes on the TV as she placed the cereal box back and took out a packet of chocolate pandas.

"Jeez, that's pretty scary…"

"Kira," Tailor continued. "I can guess what your motivations are and what you hope to achieve. However, what you're doing right now is _evil._" Weirdly, he smiled.

"Evil, huh? That's a pretty strong word for someone from Interpol. Who is this guy, anyway?" Shika pondered, her mouth full.

"Are you eating right now? Honestly, sometimes you…"

On screen, Lind L. Tailor seized up, clutching his chest and groaning. In seconds, he dropped to the podium. He wasn't visibly breathing. Immediately, two bulky security officers rushed on-screen and carried away his body. Shika almost choked, and coughed violently as cracker crumbs went down the wrong tube. On the other end, Chihiro was hysterical about the death, wildly panicking.

"Chihiro, its okay!" Shika managed hoarsely, holding her throat. "Just calm down."

"But did you—he _died! _R-right there, on screen, he's dead!" She cried.

The screen went gray. The empty podium was replaced by an ornate letter 'L', and nothing else. "I had to test this just in case, but…I never thought it would actually happen!" The voice coming out of the TV was warped by a voice modulator. A shiver of fear went up Shika's spine, and she quickly shushed Chihiro.

"Kira," L went on. "It seems you can kill without having to be at the scene of the crime. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't just seen it. Listen to me, Kira. If you did indeed kill Lind L. Tailor, the man who you just saw die on television, I should tell you that he was an inmate whose execution was scheduled for today. That was not me.

"The police arrested him in absolute secrecy so you wouldn't have heard about him from TV or through the internet. It appears that not even you have access to information about these types of criminals. But I can assure you: L is real, I do exist. Now, try to kill me! Right now! Come on, do it!"

"Is this guy crazy?" Chihiro simpered. "Kira's gonna kill him, too!"

Shika stared at the screen, her brow furrowed and mouth open slightly. "I don't know about that…"

"What?! Of course he will!"

"Why would this guy purposely commit suicide? I don't know, it's like he's just trying to get Kira angry or something, like he knows he can't die from this."

After a few seconds of taunting, L paused. "Well, Kira, it seems you can't kill me after all. So there are some people you can't kill. You've given me a useful hint. I'll tell you something I think you'll find interesting: although this was announced as a worldwide broadcast, the truth is, we are only broadcasting in the Kanto region of Japan. I was planning on broadcasting this around the world until we found you, but it looks like that won't be necessary. I now know where you are."

"Are you kidding me!" Chihiro screeched, once again making Shika jump.

L's modulated voice continued, chipper. "The police treated your first killing as an unrelated incident, but in actuality the first of your victims was a subject in Shinjuku. Of all the criminals that had recently died of heart attacks, this one's crime was by far the least serious. Furthermore, his crime was only ever reported inside Japan. I used that information to deduce this much: you are in Japan, and your first victim was little more than an experiment, which means that you haven't been killing for very long.

"We decided to broadcast in Kanto first because of its large population, and luckily we found you. To be completely honest with you, I never expected that things would go this well. But it won't be long now before I'm able to sentence you to death. Naturally, I'm very interested to know how you commit these murders without being present, but I don't mind waiting a little bit longer. You can answer all of my questions when I catch you. Let's meet again soon, Kira."

The screen flicked to static. There was silence on Chihiro's end now; Shika, also, could think of nothing to say. She sat down heavily, stunned. What had just happened? Was that real?

"Hey, Chihiro, you saw that too, right?" Shika asked. "That wasn't some hallucination?"

"N-no, I saw that too…" She replied, voice shaking. "Hey, I'll, um…I'll call you back, 'kay, Essy?" The pet name was a reference to the first letter of Shika's first name.

"All right. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

Shika watched the TV switch back to the regular news. Taking her pandas, she hopped up to the chair at her desktop and typed in her very long password. A background image of a ballerina frozen mid-jump, head thrown back in serene focus and limbs out as though in flight, popped up as she logged in.

"Now, let's see if you're in Kanto, too, L." Shika muttered to herself, and got down to business. It was unlikely that L was even in Japan, but she was curious enough—and eager enough for an excuse for Chihiro—that she wanted to give it a shot anyway.

After scanning the city's wifi networks that had been established within the last week, it seemed at first like her assumption had been correct. However, one of them stood out to her. The name was a typical internet provider's name with a string of numbers, which was strange since the source was inside a fancy hotel, and hotels usually had their name on the wifi networks.

"Well…it could just be a hotspot…" She mumbled, chewing her lip. "I guess it could be worth looking into." At the least, she would give some rich tourist a trojan and be done with it. Shika found the computers in the area that were connected to it. As she suspected, it was only a couple, not the whole hotel.

With the computers now on her radar, she picked one and found that it was guarded with layers and layers of encryption and top of the line firewall protection. It was some of the best security she'd ever seen. She set up a spyware program she had designed to infiltrate security remotely; as long as she activated it once, it would break through security and install a Trojan without her having to meddle with it directly anymore.

Shika typed the initiation coding and sat back. The spyware pecked its way through the security, decrypting passwords and breaking through the firewalls. There wasn't a notification when she was in, but her desktop changed to one that was not hers when it was done. _A rich guy's hotspot after all. _

None of the folders on the desktop had names, or even any sort of identification. Shika clicked on one, but before she could read the contents, she was booted out to her own desktop. "Oh, well." She sighed.

Shika got up and threw the empty chocolate panda box in the trash. By the time she got back to her seat, her screen was black.

"Uh oh." She hit Escape a few times, yielding nothing. "Oh, boy…" Other typical methods of leaving programs were equally unsuccessful. Exhaling, she sat back and waited. "Great."

A line of text appeared on her screen. Shika's eyebrows rose, and she leaned forward. It was in classic, now retro, 8-bit neon green. [Hello, Kira.]

A tiny bit of adrenaline, just enough to get her blood flowing, hit Shika's system. Somehow, immediately, instinctively, she knew she had made a mistake. Hacking this person was not something she should have done. Whatever spyware they used was far better than what she used. The chat system was under their control, which was why she couldn't exit; her computer, for the moment, was not hers—the exact opposite situation she was usually in. Curiosity did, historically, kill the cat, after all. Combing her hair with her hands for a few seconds, she eventually scooted forward to type a response.

[I am not Kira.]

[I'm afraid I simply can't believe that. I knew that broadcast would infuriate you, but I expected much better self-control from you, Kira.]

[Are you L?]

[Yes.]

Shika frowned. [How can I trust that you aren't Kira, either? You could just be lying about being L so I'll trust you.] For a while, there wasn't a reply, so she typed again. [Assuming you are L, how much do you really believe I'm Kira?]

The response was quickly delivered. [I can tell you it is low. If you were Kira, I don't believe you would make such a bold move so quickly. Honestly, Kira is smarter than that. In the interest of my own safety, however, I would like your name.]

[Kawaguchi Shika.] She had no problem with this; it was fake.

[Thank you.]

[What is your proof that you are L? I think my name is enough to prove I'm not Kira.]

No response came. The chat window exited, and she was left on her desktop, blinking at the sudden end to the conversation. As soon as she had enough time to become confused, her screen changed again, now blinding her with a white background and the same ornate L from the television, just fifteen minutes earlier.

"Hello, Kawaguchi Shika." The voice was modulated, of course. "I am L."

Shika snatched up her mic. "Hello, L. I think I'm convinced that you're not Kira."

"That's good. I'm impressed by your ability to get into my network; not even some experts I've seen could do that much."

"Thank you. I like to believe I'm a self-taught master."

"I have a proposition for you. I have recently encountered a problem of which you will be informed should you accept, and I think we could use your skills."

Shika paused. "Are you asking me to come work for you?"

"Yes."

In a moment of contemplation, she thought about refusing. It was clearly the most rational reply; she would have to be insane to take up some shady offer like that. When she responded, however, it wasn't the potential for high pay or recognition that fueled her bold answer. Shika lived almost exclusively by one phrase that governed every moment of doubt or distrust in herself: _I refuse to be intimidated. _

"Fine."

"I'm glad to hear that. I will inform you of your duties at a later date but for now, I am going to forward you the address and room number where we can meet. The time and date will be sent to you at a later date. Oh, and, do not attempt to contact me after this. I will get in contact with you. Until next time."

The ornate L vanished, and the leaping ballerina returned. Her nose was turned up as if to say, "Don't ask me. This is your problem." Shika sat back, digesting the information. Her email notified her of a message, sent from a mobile with a blocked number, with an address and room number, as promised. She leaned back and rubbed her temples, staring at her ceiling. "What am I getting into?"

-o-

_-Thanks for reading! This was a wordy chapter, sorry. _


	3. fortes fortuna adiuvat

"_A true friend is one who thinks you are a good egg even if you are half-cracked." -Author Unknown_

_-o-_

Smoke curled up from the ceramic teacup in the saucer. It hit the edges of the cup and coiled in before swirling up into invisible vapor. The cup was painted with black and pink designs to match the saucer; they were very beautiful. Shika stared at it, or rather stared through it, not really looking at anything in particular. She tapped a random rhythm against the tabletop.

"Hey, are you listening to me?" Chihiro snapped her well-manicured fingers.

Shika blinked and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Yeah. Sorry."

Her friend pouted a glossy lip. Aesthetically, she was a perfect foil for Shika: Chihiro dressed in sweet Lolita fashion. Everything was pastel and embroidered with some kind of lace. She looked like a walking doll. She twirled a finger through her curly pink wig. "Is something wrong, Essy? You seem distracted."

"No. I was just thinking about some things."

"Well, okay, if you say so. Anyway, as I was saying, we met down at that shop—you know, the one we went to last month? He's _so _dreamy, and he has these eyes…" She sighed. "You aren't listening, are you?"

Shika started. "What?"

Chihiro sighed and looked down at her nails, decorated with tiny peppermints and lollipops. "You know, if you're just gonna daydream we can go somewhere else."

"No, no, I'm sorry. A lot of stuff has been happening the past few days. I don't mean to ignore you."

"It's not like you to be all daydreamy." Her eyes lit up through her purple contacts, and she grinned. "You met a boy, didn't you?"

"What?" Shika drew away from her, surprised at the conclusion she had reached. She shook her head and grinned. "No, that's not it."

Chihiro bounced up and down. "Yes, yes, it is!"

"We saw someone murdered on live television just a few days ago and you think I'm distracted by a boy?" Shika gestured at herself. "Do I _look_ like I just met someone?"

"Okay, okay, jeez, no need to get all worked up. So, is that what's bothering you? That…_thing _that happened on TV?"

"In a way. L contacted me the day of the broadcast and hired me." She sipped her coffee, holding back a smile as she waited for her volatile friend's reaction.

Chihiro stared, then waved a hand. "Okay, I get it. Very funny, darling. This is a joke, right? I can usually tell when you're joking but this is _definitely _a joke."

"No. I broke into his network and he decided to employ me. I'm to meet him at an upscale hotel for a debriefing sometime soon."

There was a pause. Shika looked at her dumbstruck friend over the rim of her cup. Upon seeing her expression, she burst into laughter. "What? It's true! Don't you believe me?"

"Essy, it's just…it's insane! Aren't you scared?"

"Maybe a little, but I'm ready for whatever happens now. I think I'm actually a little excited."

The loli gave her friend a pitying look. "Well, it sounds interesting, but this L guy could just be another Kira. I mean, he asks you to meet him in some hotel, who knows what could happen! He might not even be L, like what if he's just a pervert or a murderer?"

"I'm willing to take that chance."

"Set!" Chihiro snapped, startling Shika by using an abbreviated version of her given name. "You could get killed! You could be going to meet Kira for all you know!"

Shika straightened. "I told you already that I'm not scared. If I'm going to my death, so be it. I'm going to do something interesting with my life; I want to help people, even if it kills me."

Chihiro sank back. "Why do you have to be so stubborn?"

She finished off her coffee and stood up, smiling. "Thanks for having me over, Chihiro. I should go before it gets dark out."

"Oh, won't you stay the night? It's been so long since we hung out like we used to."

"I can't. I have class tomorrow. Besides, I…have been having trouble sleeping again."

Chihiro's face dropped, and she looked down, exposing her sparkle-tipped fake eyelashes. "I see. Are you sure it was okay for you to have coffee? If you'd just said something, I have watermelon soda or…"

"No, I'll be fine." Shika smiled wider and bowed. "Be careful out there. I'll see you later."

"All right…" Her friend worried. "Call me any time you need to, okay? Even in the middle of the night I'll pick up, you know, even though it's the New Year."

"I know. Thank you. Happy New Year, Chihiro." Shika left her apartment and started walking home.

-o-

_Ping!_

Shika hopped up from her couch at the sound of her mailbox receiving a message. She jumped over the low, threadbare back and straight into her chair. Opening it, however, revealed only a spam message from a video site. Sighing, she flopped back. It had been nearly a week already, and she was starting to get impatient. She uncrumpled the crushed piece of paper in her hand, where she had written down the location she was to report to when the time came.

She ran her fingers through her hair and looked at the clock. It was late in the night, but not yet early in the morning. Shika was tired, but didn't want to sleep for fear of what could happen, which only made the probability rise, which only made her more distressed, and so on. Defeated from her false hope email, she sat back down on the couch and continued watching TV.

Some time later, she picked up her phone and called Chihiro. It rang a few times, then a bleary, "Mm, hello?"

"Hey. It's me."

"Essy, it's really early. Did you sleep? Do you need me to come over?"

"No. No, don't come over, I'm okay." Shika staggered from the couch and sat at the desktop. "I couldn't sleep. I just…needed someone to talk to."

"No no, you don't have to explain! I know. Do you want to go get a drink this morning?"

"That sounds good. I'm sure I'll get some…" She squinted at her mailbox. "Some…" The newest mail was unlabeled, sent from a blocked mobile number. The only contents were a time in military and date. "Some rest…what day is it today?"

"It's the new year, silly. Are you sure you're okay?"

Shika checked her watch. "Uh oh."

"What?"

"I have to go. I just got the time from L and it's in less than an hour."

"_What? _This is sounding more and more dangerous…just stay there, I'll come over and bring some tea; we can stay up and watch cartoons."

"If I don't leave soon I'm going to be late." Shika started hurrying around to get dressed.

"Essy…it's the middle of the night."

"So? I'm not going to sleep anyway. I'll call you back."

"Hey, wait!"

Shika snapped her phone closed and jammed it in her pocket. On the way out of the house she grabbed the ripped, crumpled paper with the address of the hotel and the right room number and a small knife, just in case. The hotel was too far to walk and still be on time, so she was forced to get a cab.

The car ride was one of the most nerve-racking of Shika's life. Not because she was scared, or at least not entirely; no, she was excited. It was 22:49. The lights of the city rolled past in neon streaks. A minute later she arrived at the hotel, paid the cab driver, and ran into the building as the car drove off. She went straight to the elevator and hit the button.

Something about what she was doing made her feel like she was going to meet a mob boss. She watched the elevator count the glowing numbers as she ascended through the building. Shika breathed steadily. She refused to be intimidated.

Upon arriving at the highest floor, she searched out the room number. A moment of hesitation followed her arrival, her eyes fixed on the gilt number on the door. There was still time to turn around, forget about this completely. No one could guarantee her safety. What if she was simply executed, or kidnapped, or drugged upon entering?

Shika took a long breath again and knocked. _I refuse to be intimidated. _

The door opened to, shockingly, a familiar face: it was the man who had dueled her in the park. The loose-fitting clothes, mop of black hair, pale skin and eyes underlined with dark bags. He was hunched over a little, and had his hands in his pockets. He cocked his head at her, rubbing his feet together. It was like he was uncomfortable standing.

"Hello." He said flatly. "I am L."

Shika blinked a few times. "Don't I know you? You played chess with me."

"Yes. Please, come in." He stepped aside and closed the door behind her. "I realized who you were when you told me your name."

"Oh! Right." She _did _remember giving him her well-known placebo, twice. "Is anyone else going to be here? I don't mean to be rude."

"I understand. We will be joined in approximately an hour by several members of the Japanese police currently working on the Kira case." He turned away and sat on the sofa in the main room—in the same curious manner as at the park, on the balls of his feet—and looked up at her. "Please make yourself comfortable."

Shika observed him curiously. It wasn't that he was attractive, nor was he particularly _un_attractive. He had a soft, low voice that hardly changed in tone, and was remarkably young, perhaps only her age at the least. L seemed his own entity entirely. He resonated the sort of atmosphere that aliens would; almost human, but something was a little off. In fact, Shika was surprised at herself that she hadn't noticed he was so strange upon their first meeting. She had simply assumed he was an eccentric chess-lover.

She sat on the edge of the couch, not really that comfortable. "Why am I here an hour early?"

L seemed to be observing her back, staring. "There's no need to be nervous. You have my word that I mean neither you nor any of the task force harm. That is, unless you _are_ Kira."

There was a teapot with a matching cup and saucer on a table that, Shika noticed, looked like a chessboard doubled in length. After pouring himself a cup, he opened a sugar jar, the ceramic edges scraping faintly. L didn't ask Shika if she wanted any, or even set out another cup.

"I'm not nervous, and I'm not Kira. I just wanted to know why I'm here so early."

"Mm." L began putting sugar cubes into his tea. "I brought you here before the police force because you…are not a police officer. You are a civilian whom, due to my belief that you can be of help to us, I have brought into a very serious investigation. The task force members who will be arriving shortly are already aware of the risk they are taking in participating."

"The risk being that I could be killed by Kira?"

"Yes. You're under no obligation to go any further if you aren't willing to put your life on the line to bring Kira to justice. If you walk out of here right now, I can assure you that will be totally safe from harm and no one will ever mention this meeting again or even know it occurred." L stirred his tea after adding slighter fewer than twenty cubes of sugar. "So, what will it be, Kawaguchi Shika?"

"I'm in."

He looked up at her. "Oh? That was quick."

"I'm not scared. I'm not nervous, and I wasn't from the start." Shika said. "I want to help people. If that means catching Kira, or hacking networks, so be it. I'm good at using computers. I would say I'm amongst the best. So, yes. Count me in. What do you need me to do?"

"You'll be acting as our head of technology, mainly security. There has been a leak at the police station, which is allowing Kira to obtain important information about criminals. Obviously, Kira isn't getting his information from regular paper and ink, or I would assume those at task force headquarters would have noticed that critical files were missing. You were very nearly able to hack into my system, which is impressive on its own, but it seems you have a specialization in firewalls and protection, am I wrong?"

"Well, no. That's right."

"Then I want you to monitor as much web activity as you can in and out of the NPA, as well as installll…whatever you feel is necessary to get the job done." He took a sip of tea. "If any unauthorized computer starts trying to steal information or files, then we've found our Kira. Or at least, someone who Kira has manipulated into gathering information for him."

Shika nodded. "All right. That shouldn't be too hard. Consider it done."

"Thank you. By the way, on the topic of names, you should no longer call me L. For safety reasons I ask that you now refer to me as Ryuzaki. You will, for the duration of the Kira case, be under the guise of a low-ranking police officer. A badge has been made for you, with a fake name and rank. I ask that you use it at all times."

"But…you already know Kawaguchi Shika isn't my real name. Aren't I fine with just this?"

"Normally, yes, but I simply cannot trust that you are telling the truth about that. Also, to avoid confusion for myself, using an alias I have already created is simply easier."

Shika nodded. "Okay. I guess I can do that." She checked her watch. "Wow, we still have a lot of time until midnight."

Ryuzaki's tone lightened. "Yes, to be honest I was expecting more deliberation on your part about whether you would even join the investigation. Still, please remain here once the agents arrive. There is plenty to discuss yet."

"I have nowhere to be." Shika found herself to be relaxing already. Ryuzaki's initially off-putting presence had already become secondhand. He seemed perfectly content to sit and wait, drinking his sweet tea.

The silence wasn't uncomfortable, rather, poised in that purgatory of when two people wish to talk but aren't quite well acquainted enough yet for casual conversation. It went on as such for a while; Shika imagined massive chess games on the long checkered coffee table, took off her coat and shoes, and got genuinely confortable in the hotel room since it seemed she would be there for some time yet. After scouring the generic kitchen, she found a cup and got her own tea, thank you very much. By the time midnight arrived, she was sitting against a wall, stoically grinding two sugar cubes together by the corners until they turned to dust again.

There was a knock on the door at 00:09.

Ryuzaki stood to answer it, unhurriedly getting to his feet. When he let the task force in, he repeated, just as he had to Shika, and with a similar reaction: "I am L."

-o-

_A/N: These chapters, whew! I had fun writing this one. L is such a pain linguistically because of the weird hesitations and tempo changes in his speech T-T Oh well, it's still fun. If you can't tell, Chihiro is already my favorite supporting character ever. I think it's important that Shika has friends; I see many stories where it's like the protagonist's life doesn't start until they meet the canon cast. But whatever. Loli is fun to imagine! _


	4. de omnibus dubitandum

"_It is easier to commit murder than to justify it." -Aemilius Papinianus_

_-o-_

Whatever Soichiro Yagami had been expecting upon opening the door, it wasn't what he found. The person on the other side was just a kid. True, he looked a bit too tired and drawn for someone so young, but he was young regardless. Under different situations, he might have passed for a transient. He dressed blandly, in utterly unremarkable clothes, hunched over with his hands in his pockets.

"I am L." He said to them.

The task force filed into the room, where they also got a chance to look at L in full. Upon stepping in further, it was apparent L was not alone. A young woman was getting to her feet on the other side of the room. She was wearing a sweatshirt with the name of Tōō University on it. Her hair was pulled over one shoulder; she ran her fingers through it habitually.

"I'm Yagami of the Tokyo Task Force." Soichiro stopped observing the pair and pulled out his ID.

"Uh, Matsuda."

"Aizawa."

"Mogi."

"Ukita."

The members listed off their names down the line, taking out their IDs in succession. After, the girl bowed and smiled to show off prominent dimples. "I'm Shika."

When they were done with introductions, Yagami spoke up again. "I'm very sorry we're late. As of this moment the five of us are…"

L held up his hand like a gun and pointed it at Yagami. "Bang." He said.

The officers were stricken. "What was that?" Aizawa asked, disturbed.

"Hmm. If I were Kira, you would be dead, Soichiro Yagami of the NPA. Kira needs a face and a name to commit murder. But I'm sure you've already figured that out, haven't you?" He stared at them. "Please do not give out your name so carelessly. Instead, let's value our lives."

"B-But what about her?" Matsuda pointed to Shika accusatorily.

"She's using a fake name already." L turned and walked into another room of the suite. "That's enough small talk for now. Please leave all cell phones, handhelds, and other communication devices on the table there." He indicated a coffee table next to them.

"You think we're gonna be using our cell phones during this meeting to leak information?" Aizawa asked indignantly.

"It's all right. Just do as he says." Soichiro said.

Shika set her cell on the table along with the others. "I realize he's been cautious from the beginning," Matsuda whispered skeptically. "But I still can't tell if he trusts us or not."

"No, I just find it distracting." L said, apparently having heard him. He clambered into an armchair in the same style as at the park, crouched. "I can't stand it when people's cell phones are ringing when I'm trying to talk. Let me start by saying that nobody takes notes on anything that's said during these meetings. Please, make yourselves comfortable."

"R-Right." Soichiro said. The Task Force took the couch and the two remaining armchairs, while Shika calmly took the potted plant and lamp off a sturdy end table and hopped up.

The whole group of them watched silently as L served himself tea. The water poured, filling a simple teacup. The atmosphere was some perverted cocktail of awe and confusion, with a trace of impatience. L took a sip of the tea, made a face, and began putting sugar cubes in by the pair.

"E-Excuse me, L—" Matsuda started, but was instantly cut off.

"Mm, and from now on I'll have to ask you to stop calling me L. It's Ryuzaki now, just to be safe." L—Ryuzaki—didn't stop putting sugar cubes in his tea as he talked.

"Uh, okay, Ryuzaki. But if Kira needs a name and a face to kill, can't we cut down on the number of killings by keeping criminals' faces and names from the news?"

"If we do that, we'll only be putting the general public at risk." Ryuzaki stopped stirring his tea. "Kira is childish, and hates losing."

"Just what do you mean?" Soichiro asked.

"Well…I'm also childish and I hate to lose. That's how I know." He drank the tea.

"Ryuzaki, would you mind being a little more specific for us?"

"Hm. Early on in the investigation, I tried to provoke Kira with that broadcast. At first we thought Kira would only go after criminals, but as you witnessed, he didn't hesitate to kill my stand-in. Also, as soon as I said we knew he was in the Kanto region, in defiance he made sure his next victims died _within _Japan, as if to say, 'What are you gonna do about it?'"

Ryuzaki took a sip of tea and set the cup back in the saucer. "He's met all of my challenges head-on, and he's never missed an opportunity to return the favor. Now what do you think would happen if we used media restrictions against him?"

Matsuda hesitated. "I guess…"

"'If you choose to withhold the names of your worst criminals, I'll kill petty criminals or the innocent. I'm holding the whole world hostage, so who's it gonna be? I'm not the evil one here but all those who oppose me by withholding criminals, you are _truly _evil.'" He took a breath. "That's exactly how Kira thinks. In any case, let's look at another way we can use the media to draw him out."

"But how?" Aizawa asked.

"How about something like this: death of FBI agents infuriates the US, latest killings anger the international policing community, nations agree to send 1,500 investigators to Japan. To Kira, this will be way beyond what he faced with the FBI. He'll see everyone as a potential threat. Psychologically, he'll begin to feel cornered, and that will cause him to take some kind of drastic action."

The Task Force rippled with pleased sounds of agreement. "That's…not bad!" Ukita exclaimed.

"So he'll think there are 1500 when there are really only eight of us." Aizawa grinned. "And since none of these investigators exist, Kira won't be able to kill them."

"It just might work!"

"Well, before we celebrate, I'll tell you the rest of my thoughts on the Kira case." Ryuzaki said. "Kira works alone. He had access to all our classified information."

"What evidence do you have that he's working alone?"

"Hold on, Aizawa," Soichiro interjected. "Let's listen to his whole theory before asking questions."

"We know he needs a name and a face to kill." Ryuzaki went on, unimpeded by the interruption. "And to some extent he can control their actions and time of death. We already know that much; please keep that in mind and listen carefully to what I have to say next." He uncapped a marker and began drawing on the coffee table as he talked.

"On December 14th, twelve FBI investigators enter Japan. Here we are on December 19th. Using prison inmates, Kira manipulates his victims' actions before they die. In other words, in this window of only five days, Kira became aware of the FBI's presence and obviously felt threatened. Because he didn't know any of their names and faces, he was at a disadvantage. He needed to know how much control he had over his victims before he used it against the twelve agents. And as we all know on December 27th…"

"He killed the agents." Ukita said solemnly.

"Yes. During this period, at least to our knowledge, twenty-three individuals died of heart attacks. But these victims were different from Kira's previous targets: they were all on trial, ex-convicts or suspects in ongoing investigations so legally speaking, they were innocent."

"That's true." Yagami said.

"What this indicates is that Kira had to manipulate those lesser criminals in order to kill those FBI agents. He killed that many people so we'd be unable to tell the decoys from those who were actually used. In truth he probably only needed a few. In eight days, the FBI could investigate other suspects, so there'd be no timeline linking him to their deaths. I suspect Kira had to be one of the people being investigated by the FBI between the 14th and the 19th of December. In fact I have no doubt." He drew a little X over an arrow on the table.

Ryuzaki picked up a stack of papers. "These are files provided by the FBI containing information you might find useful. For obvious reasons you're not permitted to take these out of this room, but…"

"Amazing!" Matsuda exclaimed. "There may only be five of us, but with this much information we could cover a lot of ground!"

"We'll split into two teams: one team traces the FBI investigations, and the other team traces the heart attack victims." Aizawa said, also excited.

"There weren't many people who had access to information from Headquarters, and of those only a small group in the first five days."

"Yeah…!"

"So, does anyone have any questions?" Ryuzaki interjected, clearly annoyed at being yet again interrupted.

"Yes." Shika raised her hand. "It's not really a question, but I wanted to let the police know what I'll be doing."

"All right." Ryuzaki acquiesced.

The girl turned to the task force. When she spoke, she looked them all in the eyes. "I'm the best computer hacker and security professional east of London and I'm here to defend anything that can be plugged in. I've been informed by Ryuzaki that Kira is getting his information from the police HQ, right?"

"That's true."

"In that case, I'm going to need access to all your computers, and a way to get into HQ, simple as that."

"Wait, how do we know _you're _not Kira stealing that information?" Matsuda asked suspiciously.

Ryuzaki spoke up. "I can assure you, there is a less than two percent possibility that she is Kira. And if she is, she wouldn't be stupid enough to throw herself to the wolves this way."

Shika beamed. "Thanks." She looked back down at the investigators. "Are those acceptable terms? I understand trust doesn't come easy, but I'm willing to work."

"I guess I don't see why not…" Aizawa hesitated. "What do you think, Chief?"

"I think we can find a way to make that work. Welcome aboard."

The girl bowed from where she sat. "Thank you very much."

Soichiro turned to Ryuzaki. "I do have one question for you, Ryuzaki, and it pertains to what you said to us earlier about how you hate to lose. Does the fact that you've shown us your face mean that you've lost? By just being here are you admitting defeat to Kira?"

"That's right." Ryuzaki said softly. "By showing my face to you now and by sacrificing the lives of twelve FBI agents, I have lost the battle." His voice became stronger. "But I'm not gonna lose the war. This is the first time I've ever put my life on the line. I want to show Kira that we're all willing to risk our lives if that's what it takes."

Ryuzaki smiled, a sudden and rather endearing smile that completely altered the solemn set of his young face. "And that justice will prevail no matter what." His smile dropped. "Before we go any further I need to make completely sure none of you are Kira." Ryuzaki said, quieting the excited murmuring. "So I need to speak to each of you individually before you leave today." He stood from his chair and went across the suit to stand in front of the large window overlooking the city, leaving the rest of them to talk amongst themselves.

"Hrm." Aizawa grumbled. "What's the deal, he still doesn't trust us?"

"No." Yagami said sternly. "I think it's a fair request. Try to see it from his perspective: Kira's been getting information from our Headquarters from the very start, so there's a good chance that he's one of us. It's a wise move to bring Miss Shika into this investigation if she's as good as he says."

"Yeah…he did take a big risk meeting us here in person." Matsuda admitted.

"He risked his life to be here." Aizawa agreed.

"For what it's worth, I don't think any of you are Kira." Shika contributed. "But I think the least we can do is assuage any doubts Ryuzaki might still have."

Ukita nodded. "She's right. We owe it to him."

A phone rang in the other room, chiming and buzzing away on the table. Shika chuckled. "Sorry. That's mine. My friend thought I was going to get kidnapped by Kira."

"Feel free to answer it." Ryuzaki called over. "You're last in line for questioning."

"Oh! Thank you. It will only take a moment." She disappeared into the other room. When the ringing stopped, the muffled high-pitched squeaking of the person on the other line could be heard through the whole hotel room.


	5. graviora manent

"_I don't know that there are haunted houses. I know that there are dark staircases and haunted people." -Robert Brault_

_-o-_

"Hello?"

"Hiya, Set. How are you?"

"Fine."

"I haven't heard from you in a few days…is everything okay?"

"Yes. I've been working. Sorry. It's been a busy week."

"I really don't like that you're working with this L guy…what are you doing for him, anyway?"

"Just technology-related things. I shouldn't say much. It's a police investigation."

"Well, okay…this gives me a bad feeling, is all."

"It's okay. He's not dangerous. L is harmless. Eccentric, but nice enough. It's hard to describe him. Overall, I think I like him. At the very least I don't _not _like him. We don't know him very well yet. I want to say he's a good man."

"If you're sure, then okay. Where are you? I hear cars."

"On my way to the police station. I work there now, in a way. Hold on, I'm getting another call. Hello?"

"It's Ryuzaki. Where are you?"

"On…my way to the police station…"

"Oh, good. I'll just tell you when you get here, then."

"Huh? Hey, what? Argh…hi, Chihiro, I'm back."

"Who was that?"

"Telemarketer. Hey, I'm right here at the station. I'll talk to you later."

"Oh….okay. Bye."

"Bye."

-o-

"Yeah. These should work great." Shika peered at the tiny camera she held between two fingers, a purplish sheen coming off the polished lens. "But I gotta ask. Why do we need so many?"

"There can't be any blind spots." Ryuzaki said. "Aizawa and Ukita will be in charge of the placement of the cameras in the Yagami household, and Mogi and Matsuda in the Kitmura household."

"You can count on us." Ukita said, chin high.

"We'll get started as soon as we know when both houses will be empty tomorrow." Aizawa added.

"Shika, I want you to set up the feed for all the cameras so Mr. Yagami and I can watch all screens at once."

"That shouldn't be that bad. How many screens will you need set up?" Shika asked.

"Hm…I would say about two hundred and fifty, counting both houses."

"Two hundred!"

"I have confidence you can do that, right?"

The hacker took a deep breath. "Yeah, it might take me a while, but I can do that. I'll be here overnight, then, if you want it all done within the next couple days."

"Thank you, that will work just fine. Watari, you can start bringing in the televisions. Actually, please start immediately."

"Of course." The old man said, and left the hotel room to presumably some kind of television warehouse.

"I'll help; it'll get my job done a little faster, at least. Wait, wait, I'm coming to help!" Shika ran after Watari, tugging on her shoes.

They took the elevator back down to the ground floor in silence. In the parking garage, Watari led her to a van. Inside the sliding door was a large stack of fairly new TV's. Not two hundred, but enough to contain about two hundred and fifty divided screens if she fed the camera feeds in right.

"Did Ryuzaki buy these all today?" She asked, hefting the first one out.

"We keep them on hand in case a situation such as this comes about. However, we did purchase a few extra for this particular scenario." Watari said.

"I see." Shika wondered just how much money they had. Ryuzaki didn't look rich, but if he was able to throw that kind of cash around and rent hotel suites by the week, who knew?

It took many trips to carry the TV's, large and small, back up to the suite. The screens buzzed with static on top of one another, huge bricks of wires and dark plastic that lit the room a bluish-white. The task force members left for home about midnight. After the last TV was brought up into the room, Watari took his leave as well to get some rest; he was staying in another room at the same hotel. This left Shika alone in the dark, fiddling around with wires and inputs and power strips and all the tiny cameras behind the giant misshapen wall of televisions.

Or, nearly alone. At about one in the morning, she jumped when Ryuzaki spoke over her head. "How is it going?"

Shika put a hand over her chest. "Jesus…it's going fine. I already told you it would take a while. Two hundred cameras is no joke."

"I'm aware of that. I did pick you because you said you were the best." He left to a dessert tray Watari had left him, and picked over the dissected corpse of a strawberry Danish. "However, if you feel like you aren't up to the job…"

"I can do it." She snapped over, and sighed. "Why are you awake, anyway? It's…" She checked her watch. "One-thirty."

"I'm not tired." He nibbled on a remaining bit of pastry. "Sleep is time subtracted from time I could be investigating a case. When I can I do it as little as possible."

Shika pressed the heel of her hand into her eye. "I understand. I don't sleep as much as I should, either. Though I guess for different reasons." She went back to organizing the wires from the TV's. "Here, look."

She pinched one of the cameras and pointed it at Ryuzaki. His double appeared on-screen, which was divided into twelve smaller, as-of-yet blank displays for different cameras. He looked back and forth between the screen and her. "Good work."

"It's just the start, but it should start getting easier from here on out." Shika set the camera up on top of the TV. She glanced at him. "Do you sit like that on the underground too?"

"I don't take the train," He replied. "But if I didn't sit like this, my deductive skills would go down about 40%. Soo…I would."

"That's nonsense. It doesn't matter how you sit."

"Well, can you prove that I'm wrong?"

"If you sat with your legs down, you would just pretend to be less clever. Anyway, what would I test you with? Sudoku? No, I can't _really _prove you wrong if you decide to lie. And I'm sure you would."

"Hmm?"

"You said yourself that you're childish and you hate to lose. I'm sure you'd lie to me just so you'd be right, even if you weren't." Shika looked up at him.

Ryuzaki pondered it, looking up at the ceiling. "Yes, you're probably right." He mumbled. "I have to say I think I underestimated you."

The hacker exhaled a little breath out her nose, a half-laugh. "Good to know."

Several hours passed without much else being said. The curtains of the room were drawn, but it was clear dawn was breaking. Watari came back a few hours after dawn to brew tea and hand out fresh pastries to the two. Shika had almost a hundred cameras done so far, leaving a little under fifty to complete for just the first house.

Matsuda arrived first the next day, followed by Mogi. They were the first to have an empty house, and therefore were in a hurry. "Shika-san, I don't want to rush you, but…" The rookie shifted from foot to foot. "The house is only empty for the next three hours, and we need to get down there right away!"

"Here, just take these for now." She pushed a box of tiny cameras into his hands. "If you need more, let me know."

"A-All right, thank you." He bowed and hurried out, Mogi's huge profile following close behind.

When they were gone, Shika sat back, took a sip of tea, and got back to work.

-o-

"Essy!" Chihiro flounced up to Shika, pink-ribboned shoes clopping like little hooves. "I got you coffee!" She held out the cup, but Shika made no move to grab it. "Essy? Eeessy…" She leaned forward, observing her own reflection in her friend's shades, and gave her a small kick to her shin. "Essy, wake up!"

The hacker jumped and sat up. "What? What?"

Chihiro sighed. "Take off those silly sunglasses."

"I don't have to."

After some grappling around, Chihiro managed to wrestle the shades off Shika's face. Chihiro knew that Shika had problems getting to sleep, and so seeing her with dark shadows under her eyes was nothing new. Now, the purplish circles were pronounced enough to look like bruises. Spider-web veins made her eyes bloodshot red and made her look hungover.

"Oh, Set…when was the last time you slept?"

Shika grabbed back her shades. "Recently."

"Don't lie!"

"It's not a lie."

"Did you sleep last night?" Chihiro pointed self-righteously at Shika's hesitation. "I knew it! Ugh, it's that _job, _isn't it? They're working you to death!"

"I volunteered! It's no one's fault but my own." She put her shades back on. "I don't want your pity."

"I'm just worried about you!" Her wispy eyebrows pulled together in concern.

"Don't worry. I'm fine." Shika smiled reassuringly. "Now, let's go get lunch. I'll buy."

Chihiro beamed. "Yeah! I want tamagoyaki!"

"Sure."

As they walked along campus, the Lolita watched her friend, worry not forgotten. Shika liked to pretend everything was cool and peachy, but Chihiro knew better. They'd been friends since junior high, and it was child's play at this point to pick out when her friend was trying to make her feel better. She didn't know what they were making her computer-savvy friend do, but whatever it was, it was sucking the energy out of her.

She hadn't had it easy as a kid, or as an adult for that matter. Chihiro remembered many a late night at sleepovers, waking up to sudden screams and thrashing, only to spend the next early morning hour calming a panicking, weeping Shika. Despite those hardships, she never stopped being friends with Shika, who became more and more introverted and isolated due to overwhelming stress and sleep deprivation. To her knowledge, she didn't spend time socially with other people except Chihiro herself.

"Hey," Shika said. "Thanks."

"For what? I didn't do anything, silly!"

The hacker shrugged. "Just thanks."

Chihiro grinned and nudged her friend's shoulder. "Tell you what, I'll play a match of chess with you later if you want."

Shika pulled her sweatshirt in tighter. "Thanks."

-o-

_-BFF's 5ever! Hah, for real though, this chapter gave me so much trouble I'm just glad its done, ugh._

_-Drop a review! Thank you for the support so far, it really helps! _


	6. aurea mediocritas

"_I don't fancy colors of the face, I'm always attracted to colors of the brain." __―__Michael Bassey Johnson_

_-o-_

The cable TV displayed a grainy late-night talk show. Flickering light projected over the tiny living room. Shika was crunched into one corner of her couch, eating a reheated plate of tempura from takeout the day before. The time was just past nine; the show was just starting. It was going to be about Kira, as most shows recently were. For some reason, at that moment in time, Shika was feeling distinctly depressed. Her hands were shaky. It had been a few days since her last night's sleep, and things were starting to smack of hallucination.

For that reason, she didn't hear her phone go off until the fourth ring. When she picked up, she spoke through a mouthful of food. "Hello?"

"Oh, good, you're there."

Of all the people currently inhabiting the planet, Ryuzaki wasn't the one she expected or wanted to speak to. She didn't want to speak to anyone. "Hello, Ryuzaki." She mumbled.

"You're on speaker. Mr. Yagami is here with us; we need you to tell us how many cameras are in the Yagami household, specifically the room of their son."

Shika rubbed her eyes hard. "Let me think…maybe a hundred twenty-five? That was all that was left. I don't know how many are in each room. I remember Aizawa saying that they put more in the bedrooms. With all due respect, why didn't you just call Aizawa directly?"

"Aizawa is likely asleep already." Yagami chimed in, sounding slightly due to the speakerphone. "He is a family man, after all. I'm trying to be minimally intrusive."

"Oh. Reassuring that you know I don't have a family."

"We merely assumed, as you're so young, that you'd be living alone. I'm very sorry if that was incorrect."

Shika sighed. "No, you're right. It's fine. Sorry I couldn't help more. Do you need anything else, Ryuzaki?"

L picked up the phone again. "Yes. When do entrance exams for your university begin?"

"Tomorrow, why?"

"Oh, no reason. Thank you very much."

The line went dead. Shika huffed and threw it across the couch for it to bounce off one of the cushions and straight onto the floor. "Just answer a damn question, already!" She snapped at it.

-o-

It was beginning to warm up on campus. The cherry trees were in full bloom, lighting up the terraces with rosy petals. Shika watched them swirl on gusts of chill, fresh spring air and follow in the wakes of students. The sun was out, but it wasn't bright. All in all, it was a great day for weather.

"Hey, Shika! Are you even listening?" Chihiro ran around in front of her and walked backwards.

"Sorry."

"Hh, honestly, every day you come back from work you're so distant…"

Shika leveled a flat glower at her friend. "You know, maybe I'm happy at my job. Have you considered that?"

"Well, _yeah, _I have! But you don't _seem _happy. You're always, like, zoning out of conversations and staring off into the distance recently. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Trust me. I'm fine. I guess I'm just distracted by the work and all. I've been thinking about going back on my prescription so I can sleep better but…" Shika slowed, stopped both walking and speaking, like they were connected.

There, on one of the campus benches Shika passed by every day she was at school, Ryuzaki was crunched up in his signature posture. It was so startling, like seeing a cutout from a magazine in a children's book of illustrations. Shika's first thought was, well, now's she's just about reached her limit of how long she can stay up without sleep, and it's about time she went and saw a proper doctor because frankly this has gotten out of hand.

"Hey," Chihiro jogged back, having kept walking backwards. "What's wrong? Essy?"

The hacker put her hands to her face, rubbed her eyes with her fingers, and checked the bench again to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. "Chihiro," She pointed. "There's someone sitting right there, yes?"

Chihiro glanced back. "Yeah, he looks like a weirdo. Why? Are you _sure _you're okay? Hey! Don't just walk off! Essy!"

Shika approached the bench and stared down at L. He watched her as well, but didn't seem even mildly surprised to see her. "Hello."

"Hi. Why are you here?"

"I'm…waiting for someone." He said softly, glancing back out to scan the passersby, but looked back up at her. "You can wait with me if you want."

"Shika!" Chihiro caught up with them. "Who is this guy?"

"A friend from work." Shika introduced vaguely.

"Oh. _Oh!_" Chihiro suddenly became interested, and looked Ryuzaki over again. "Nice to meet you. I'm Maki Chihiro."

"Hideki Ryuuga." L greeted in return. "Nice to meet you."

Shika put her bag down at her feet and sat next to him. "My classes are done for now. I'll wait with you."

"I'll see you guys later! I'm gonna be late for my lecture." The Lolita winked at her friend. "Bye!"

They watched her prance away, skirts flouncing cheerfully. For a few minutes, neither said anything, watching the cherry trees sprinkle their petals in luxurious slow motion. Shika looked over at L. He was tucked up in a ball, feet under knees under arms under chin. A thought occurred to her suddenly.

"Ryuzaki," She said. "You look a little beyond freshman age. How old are you?"

L didn't make eye contact, instead turning his gaze up at the robin's egg sky. "Mm…probably twenty-five."

"You don't know for sure?"

"I'm…not that interested in my age." He said lightly. "I think it's irrelevant." There was a pause, wherein he glanced at her. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to tell me how old _you _are?"

Shika almost laughed at his genuineness and settled on a grin. "Sure. I'm twenty-three, but my birthday's in a couple months."

"Mm."

"What?" Shika smirked faintly. "Did you expect me to be younger?"

"Well, yes, to be honest with you."

Shika laughed. "Thanks."

A comfort in L's presence was beginning to establish itself. Shika found herself contented to sit around with him. In part, it could have something to do with the fact that he seemed untouchable. There was a safety in being near him: there was an aura coming off him like a president or prime minister, an immortal presence borne of being obscenely wealthy. That was also why she found it so strange to see him somewhere as ordinary as her own college campus. He was a strange guy, but not bad strange.

"Who are we waiting for, by the way?" Shika asked after a while.

"Our only suspect in the Kira investigation."

"Really? Who is it?"

"Light Yagami."

The name was familiar. "Yagami? As in…?"

"Yes, he is Chief Soichiro Yagami's son." L said lightly. "He attends school with you and, as of yesterday, me."

"So that's why you wanted to know when freshman entrance exams began…I see now." She nodded. "Why are we waiting for him?"

"I plan on befriending him. Actually, that brings up a favor I have to ask of you."

"Sure, go ahead."

"If you don't know him already, I want _you _to be friends with 'Light Yagami' as well." He looked directly at her when he spoke, and said the name in a strange manner, as though testing it out. "Since I can't exactly be here all the time, you're a far better choice to keep an eye on him. For the time being, at least. I have a feeling it won't be for long."

"I can probably do that." Shika shifted in her seat. "Although I'm not really great at making new friends."

"I don't think so." L responded distantly. "After all, we're friends."

There was a pause. The statement rang of having not been intended for actual speaking. It wasn't _awkward, _per say, but suddenly seemed that there was almost an apology needed, though for what was unknown, since no real transgression had been made. The silence was no longer comfortable; neither party would have been able to explain why.

"Ah," L mercifully broke the brittle minutes. "There he is."

A young man was approaching them. Shika noticed he was very prim-and-proper looking, even for college. She chalked it up to him being a freshman: he would grow out of it soon. His hair was brown and shaggy; he was tall and handsome. All in all, the kind of kid who would normally be groomed for success by wealthy parents—not an uncommon demographic at Tōō. He noticed them right away when they stood to meet him, and slowed to talk.

"Hello, Ryuuga." He said to L. "It's good to see you again."

"Hello. Light, this is my friend, Koizumi Shizuka. Shizuka, this is Light Yagami." L introduced.

"A pleasure." Shika nearly forgot she had a second fake name she was supposed to be using. They shook hands.

"An honor." Light said politely, but with the air of it being rehearsed. "Ryuuga, you never told me you had a girlfriend, or that she would be so beautiful."

Shika bristled and pulled her hand away. She could feel her face going red. "We're not dating."

"Oh! I'm sorry, I misunderstood."

"It's quite all right." L intervened, but seemed slightly embarrassed himself. "She's more of an associate of mine. She is currently working with me on the Kira investigation."

Again, Shika started and looked sharply at L. How much had he told this Light kid, exactly? However, Light seemed unsurprised. "I see. Well, it's nice to meet you."

"Light, would you like to play a game of tennis?" L asked, putting his hands in his pockets. "If we're to be friends, I'd like to get to know you better."

"I don't see why not." Light smiled; it didn't reach his eyes. "I'll have to go get my gym bag. I hope you don't mind tagging along? It won't take long, I promise."

"Of course not."

The group started walking. Light began conversation first. "So, Miss Shizuka, what kind of work do you do for Ryuuga?"

"Mostly technology. I keep the computers running."

"Ah, I see. That's an admirable skill; I'm terrible with computers, myself." He laughed lightly.

"That's unfortunate." Shika responded, trying to force cheerfulness into her speech. "Do you play chess?"

"I like it, but I haven't been able to play much recently. I've been studying for the entrance exams."

"I see. We should play some time." She said lowly. "I'm something of an enthusiast, myself."

They reached the boys' locker rooms. "I'm going to go change and get my tennis racquets. Are you coming, Ryuuga?" Light asked.

"I'll be fine like this, thank you." L said, in reference to his baggy clothes.

"Oh. Well, okay then. I'll be right back."

After he was safely away, Shika turned back to L and crossed her arms. "He seems to know…a gratuitous amount. Care to explain?"

"I've already told him that I am L." He said nonchalantly, looking up instead of at her, but lowering his voice slightly. "In the case that he _is _Kira, this puts me in a close, yet invulnerable position."

Shika put a hand over her mouth, thinking. "He could just kill you now, right? I suppose he doesn't have your real name, but now he knows what you look like."

"Yes. He needs my name. However, there is another reason why he couldn't kill me right away."

"Hmm…I don't know."

"Picture this: immediately after meeting me, our theoretical Kira somehow discovers my real name and kills me." He looked back at her. "Now, the signs all point to him. Since he has just met me, it would make sense that now since he knows who I am, I would die immediately after meeting him."

"So by introducing yourself as L, he's been put in a position where he can't kill you without also putting himself in checkmate." Shika thought about it. She had been in similar positions in chess before; there were occasionally "blind spots", where for whatever reason, she could position a piece in such a place that none of the immediate surrounding pieces could take it, due to their moving restrictions. "Wow," She said. "That's really clever."

"Thank you."

She pulled at her hair, thinking. "So, you really think he's Kira?"

"Mmm…I would say I suspect him at least three percent."

"Only three percent?"

"It's more than I suspected you."

Before Shika could reply, eyebrows already together and chest puffed out, Light reemerged from the locker rooms. "Sorry about that. You can use one of my racquets, Ryuuga."

"That's generous. Thank you." L said, as the group began walking again.

"It's no problem." Light smiled. "Miss Shizuka, will you be coming with us?"

"I don't see why not." She replied quietly. "But I won't be playing. I'll just take sides."

-o-

_-Oh my gosh! So much dialogue! __ This was a fun chapter to write...!_

_-Also, in case anyone was interested, I made a playlist for Shika; the link is on my profile if y'all wanna check it out :o _

_-Once again, for anyone interested in mild trivia, the names of the chapters are all relevant phrases in Latin. (I would suggest Googling them, not trying to use Google Translate, because GT is a bitch sometimes.)_

_-Thanks to Teddy bear 007, TheRedtail, xXMisatoXx, Animefreak1145, B.T. Emmett, and also all you unnamed guests for reviewing for far! :D You guys are fantastic._


	7. ophidia in herba

"_Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?"_

― _Abraham Lincoln_

-o-

Shika sat down on the wall outside the tennis court fences, while Light and Ryuzaki went in to set up for their game. She sat on the side from which Ryuzaki would be serving, meaning she was facing Light until they switched sides later in the game. As she got comfortable on the little wall, she watched them talk and glance politely at each other, but couldn't hear what they were saying. _That's probably an interesting conversation. _

Ryuzaki served the ball; or, she thought he did. It was served with such excessive force that Light had no time to even move for it, and it slammed into the chain link fence with a resounding clash. The light-haired student froze and looked over his shoulder. "Whoa, Ryuuga, you don't mess around." He called over.

Ryuzaki's response was frank and immediate. "He who strikes first wins."

The games continued. It was hard to track the ball; both of them were unbelievably good at tennis for some reason, but that wasn't all. There was definitely some kind of underlying tension. Both parties were hitting with way more ferocity than needed, and the tennis balls popped furiously back and forth across the court. Light looked the part of a young tennis prodigy, but Ryuzaki's athleticism surprised her. One would think that sitting around indoors and eating sweets all day wouldn't be doing wonders for one's fitness, but he was keeping easy pace with Light.

A crowd was beginning to gather around the fences to the courts. It was hypnotizing watching them, and Shika found she was surrounded by the fourth game. A group of students talking about the people involved caught her attention. Trying not to make it too obvious that she was eavesdropping, she inched over a bit on the wall.

One man came running down the steps, out of breath. "You won't believe this! I'd thought I'd heard the name Light Yagami somewhere before so I looked it up. Apparently he was the '02-'03 Junior High Tennis Champion. Apparently during the third year awards ceremony, he announced he was hanging up his racquet, and I guess he hasn't played competitively since."

"Hey hey, what about my Ryuuga?" A girl defended, getting a contemptuous look from her friend. "Don't say you haven't noticed him holding his own against this former Junior High champ!"

"Sorry to barge in," Shika barged in. "But do you know anything else about this Yagami guy?"

"He tied top of the freshman class with that weird-looking guy." The girl's friend said, holding off disgruntled objections from the bespectacled girl. "Everyone says he's totally loaded, but I don't believe it."

"If nothing else, he's definitely smart." A guy, one of the crowd whom Shika could tell by a glance was not a freshman, interjected. He had tinted goggles on. "I heard they both got perfect scores on the entrance exams. That's practically unheard of."

"You're kidding." The hacker said.

"Wish I was. The little guy's rich for sure, but I don't know much about this Light Yagami." He said. "He's just a freshman, after all. Probably just another child prodigy who'll become some CEO in fifteen years."

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing."

"It's not a bad thing," The girl's friend said. "But some of us worked really hard to get here, and other people just got it handed to them. You can't blame us for being a little bitter."

"I guess not. But don't you think something seems off about him?"

"Like what?"

"Never mind."

The games went on. In the middle of a match, Shika made a quick trip to the quad for a couple water bottles. She was forced to shoulder her way back through the people in order to get back up to the fence; she had returned just as they were switching sides. L was coming over to her side.

"Hey, Ryuuga, here," Shika pushed the water bottles through the chain link fence. "I got some water. Give one to Light, too."

"Thank you." Ryuzaki accepted one, and tossed the other across the court with unsettling force. Light caught it and waved over to them in thanks.

"So, what do you think?" Shika asked. "About Light."

"I can't judge him based on just a tennis match." Ryuzaki said, after drinking half the water in one go. "But he's going for the win."

"What do you mean, you can't judge him based on just a tennis match? I thought you were better than Holmes." The hacker grinned.

Ryuzaki glanced at her. "If I were that good, we wouldn't be here."

"I know you know that was a joke." She looked over his shoulder, where Light was clearly getting impatient without anyone for him to converse with. "You better get back to it. Your adoring public calls."

He copied her action. "Yes. It would be rude to leave the match unfinished."

-o-

The game began with L one win behind.

Light was good; very good, even. Better than expected. The outcome of the set, like he had told Shika, couldn't on its own determine if Light was Kira: that would be ludicrous. Regardless, it provided an interesting opportunity to study his personality.

The way the game was going, it didn't look like L was going to win. Light was brutal. He played with a robotic ferocity that was hard to fight. That on its own was an interesting trait. If Light won, it was game and set. If L won, it was a tie to be decided by at least two more games.

L fell back to save the ball at the last second, surprising Light and gaining him a point. "Yeah!" A voice whooped. "You go, Ryuuga!"

One of the girls on the sidelines had been cheering for him all game. It wasn't Shika. L pretended not to hear her, rather, concentrated on Light, who was about to serve. The point ended badly for L. As he got ready to serve, another female voice chimed in. "You got this, Ryuuga! Kick his butt!"

_That _was Shika. L instantly biffed the serve off the base of the racquet, and it only struck with about half as much force as intended. If he'd had time to dwell on it, he would have sighed or maybe grit his teeth a little. He didn't like that she'd made him falter; not because he was now on the losing end of the point, but because she had distracted him at all. L had just spent the larger part of the game ignoring the other girl on the sidelines, but…there was no time for him to reason out an unreasonable thought. He would think it over later.

Light ran up to the net, literally ran up to within several inches of it, and spiked the ball back down the other side, securing his already predictable win. The yellow ball bounced under L's arm, flying behind to rattle against the back fence.

"Game and set!" The line judge called. "Light Yagami wins, six games four!"

L watched Light carefully. He wasn't reacting to the win very much…or maybe that was an indicator on its own. Light would have to meet someone on the task force for it to proven that L was who he said he was. Would Shika do? No, she wasn't a licensed officer. It would have to be someone Light knew…someone like his father.

"Good job, Ryuuga." Shika jogged up onto the court, toting yet more bottles of water.

"Thank you. Although, I did lose." He accepted another bottle from her.

"I suppose. That doesn't mean you can't still enjoy yourself, though." She slugged back some water from her own bottle.

L thought back to his back return during the game after she cheered for him. He observed her, again trying to pick apart that incident. Shika noticed him and raised an eyebrow, smiling. "Why are you looking at me?"

"No reason. Ah, Light," L turned to his tennis opponent. "Here's your racquet back."

"Thanks. You're pretty good, Ryuuga." Light accepted the racquet.

"Thank you."

The people who had crowded around the courts dispersed, chattering about the match, and leaving a path again. Light, L and Shika walked back out onto the quad. The tension had settled back around them like a cobweb which, although briefly blown away, had floated back down to rest stickily over the trio. Every time someone spoke, it felt scripted and awkward; L was aware he was doing the same thing.

"Say, Ryuuga, I know a nice café nearby. Would you like to go get a drink there? It's the least I can do after our tennis game." Light's suggestion, as well as stopping their walk, brought the group up short. "And of course you can come too, Miss Shizuka."

Shika shook her head. "No thank you. I'm getting dinner. I'll see you soon."

The last statement was directed toward L, and warmly said in comparison to her chilly treatment of Light. Shika exchanged a quick glance with L when she turned away from Light, eyebrows hopping up slightly to indicate a contemptuous opinion of her new classmate. She passed close by him as she walked off; the air in her wake carried the scent of fabric softener. It made him slightly dizzy.

-o-

"Dinner" had been Shika's way of phrasing that she was going to get take-out, a few bags of candy, and spend the rest of the night writing code. At home, she left the TV on to broadcast the news. Recently she had been leaving it on to see the criminals and subsequent Kira reports.

While eating at her computer, she got a phone call from a blocked number. Knowing already who was on the other end, she picked up and held the phone up to her ear with her shoulder and kept typing. "Hello, Ryuzaki."

"Shizuka? It's Matsud—I mean, Matsui!"

"Oh! You weren't who…Never mind, what's wrong?"

"Chief Yagami's just had a heart attack!"

Shika nearly inhaled some rice, and coughed sharply. "_What?" _

"Yeah, we just got the call—he's in the hospital right now!"

"Wait, he isn't dead?"

"I don't know, we haven't heard much since then…"

A beeping on the phone muted out some of Matsuda's speech. "Hold on, I'm getting another call." Shika hit the call button. "Hello?"

"Shizuka. It's Ryuzaki."

"Is this about the Chief's heart attack?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

"Matsuda just called. He's on the other line."

"Ah. I just left the hospital where Mr. Yagami is staying. He is alive, but needs to rest. Please meet the task force at the hotel room tomorrow morning so we can discuss what to do next."

"Is he…was it Kira?"

"No, the doctors said it was stress-induced. However, with Mr. Yagami currently incapable of working, we should discuss our plan of action. Also, I have brought Light Yagami onto the case."

"Why? Isn't he a suspect?"

"I think it would be wise to keep him close. His deductive skills _are _remarkable, but I want to keep an eye on him."

"I see. I should get Matsuda off of hold; I'll make it to the hotel tomorrow. Good night."

_-o-_

_-This chapter was hard to write xO. I couldn't make it sound right, but here it is. Next chapter is exciting plot development wow driving busses into things and yelling at each other_


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